Tape reveals Donald Trump bragging about kissing and groping women

A lewd discussion taped in 2005 on a soap opera set adds to evidence that Trump has a record of sexist behavior.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pauses during a meeting with members of the National Border Patrol Council at Trump Tower, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in New York.

By

ALAN RAPPEPORT

October 7, 2016

Donald Trump was caught on tape bragging in vulgar terms about making sexual advances toward a married woman and aggressively kissing and groping other women, and boasting that “when you’re a star they let you do it.”

The recording, unearthed by The Washington Post on Friday, was made in 2005 on the set of a soap opera where Trump was making a cameo appearance. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was captured on an open microphone that he apparently did not know was recording his conversation with Billy Bush, then the host of “Access Hollywood,” with whom he was sitting on a bus.

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The lewd discussion offers more insight into how Trump has spoken about women in private and adds to evidence that he has a penchant for sexist behavior.

Trump said Friday that he was sorry if his language offended anyone.

“This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close,” Trump said in a statement. “I apologize if anyone was offended.”

During one part of the conversation, Trump discussed an incident in which his advances were rebuffed by a woman. The conversation was recorded after he was already married to Melania Trump, his third and current wife.

“I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it,” Trump says.

He adds that he tried to have sex with the woman and acknowledges knowing that she was married.

It is not clear whom he was referring to, but Trump says in very graphic terms that he “moved on” the woman “very heavily,” taking her shopping for furniture as a way to spend time with her.

“But I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Trump says.

Trump has been aggressively courting Christian conservative voters while making former President Bill Clinton’s history of infidelity an issue in the campaign.

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At one point, the conversation in the recording is interrupted when an actress arrives to escort Trump and Bush to the set.

“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them,” Trump says. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”

He goes on to explain that his celebrity had made such encounters possible.

“And when you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”